Cisco to buy cloud-networking start-up Meraki for $1.2 billion

A sign marking a Cisco office is pictured in San Diego, California November 12, 2012.
REUTERS/Mike Blake

By Nicola Leske

Networking equipment company Cisco Systems Inc said it will buy privately held cloud networking company Meraki for $1.2 billion in cash as part of its cloud and networking strategy.

Cisco said the acquisition of Meraki, which was founded in 2006 by members of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science, is expected to close in the second quarter of Cisco's 2013 fiscal year and is subject to regulatory approval.